Discipline Priest PvP Guide in Battle for Azeroth (BfA 8.0.1)

This guide will walk you through everything you need to know to play
in a PvP environment. The guide will cover everything from
talent choices, PvP talents, gameplay and rotation, and useful racial bonuses. It
is most applicable to Arena content, but most talents and racial bonuses will
work in Rated Battlegrounds and skirmishes.

1. Spec Overview / Place in the Current Meta for Discipline Priests

Discipline Priests have the most unique style of all the healers.
Not only do they do a large majority of their healing with damage, but
they are the only healer with 2 healing schools. This makes them a force
to be reckoned with when playing with aggressive classes.

1.2. Weaknesses of Discipline Priests

2. Stat Priority for Discipline Priests in PvP

The stat priority for Discipline Priests in PvP is as follows:

Intellect;

Haste;

Critical Strike;

Mastery;

Versatility.

Intellect is the best stat in all situations. Haste is the strongest
secondary stat at all times due to it reducing the Global Cooldown on abilities
and increasing the tick rate of your HoTs and Dots. Critical Strike is also
important for increasing the chance your healing and damaging spells do
additional damage or healing.

3. Azerite Traits for Discipline Priests

Azerite traits are unlocked in you helm, shoulders and chest. With each
Azerite level in your neck, you get closer to unlocking the center trait in
your gear. These traits vary from increasing damage or healing of certain
abilities to helping increase your survivability. Depending on what traits you
use, it can completely alter your playstyle and what talents you should be
using.

3.1. Outer Ring

Discipline Priests do not depend on one single trait to increase their
damage. Instead, they want a mix of the above traits.
Concentrated Mending and Weal and Woe both increase
your damage. This results in doing more healing.
Enduring Luminescence and Moment of Repose increase
your instant healing. These traits are perfect for quickly healing a partner to
full health.

3.2. Middle Ring

The Middle and Inner Rings are important for additional healing.
On My Way, Woundbinder, and
Overwhelming Power all give a chance at increasing a stat. These
are all great choices and the increase to a stat increase your overall healing
output. Blessed Portents will help you heal a teammate who has low
health.

3.3. Inner Ring

All of these traits give you additional ways of surviving. These are all
passive, but are crucial to have.

3.4. General Guidelines

In general, Discipline Priests do not have a specific cooldown that you need
trinkets to line up with. As a result, your trinkets can have a passive or
on-use effect. The stat you want to be increasing is Intellect. The reason you
want to increase Intellect is because it drastically increases your overall
healing and damage output.

3.4.3. Chest

3.5. Recommended Items

Dread Gladiator's Badge is strong for the Versatility and the on-use
Intellect effect. The 2-minute cooldown is long, but should be used every time
you are using your burst healing rotation.

Dread Gladiator's Insignia has a good amount of Versatility on it and
has a passive effect. This effect increases your Intellect. This increases your
sustained healing and damage output.

3.6. Weapon Enchant

Enchant Weapon - Quick Navigation is the best weapon enchants. This
enchant provides a proc that gives you more Haste. This reduces the cast time
of your important spells and results in an increase to your overall healing. It
also increases the rate that your DoTs deal damage, resulting in more healing.

While the above table provides a generally accurate overview of the
viability of talents, some finer points are discussed in the sections that
follow, and we recommend you read those for a deeper understanding.

5. Regular Talents for Discipline Priests

5.1. Tier 1 (Level 15) Talents

Twist of Fate is the best choice in this tier. This will
help you keep your team alive once you leave crowd control or if you are
playing against a team with strong single target damage.

5.2. Tier 2 (Level 30) Talents

Angelic Feather is the best choice in this tier. This will help you
run to or from enemy players. This is crucial for getting a
Psychic Scream on an enemy healer. If you find yourself not using
Angelic Feather often or you think the enemy team will focus you,
Masochism is the better talent in this tier.

5.3. Tier 3 (Level 45) Talents

Power Word: Solace is the best choice in this tier. This talent
restores a decent amount of Mana and works well with the Trinity
PvP talent.

5.3.1. Tier 4 (Level 60) Talents

If the goal for your team is to setup crowd control on the enemy healer,
Psychic Voice is the best choice in this tier. This makes
Psychic Scream a very strong crowd control ability.

If your team is focusing on surviving against a team with two melee on it,
Shining Force could be the better talent. If you take this talent,
you are sacrificing crowd control for survivability.

5.4. Tier 5 (Level 75) Talents

Sins of the Many is the best choice in this tier. This is a flat
increase to your damage, resulting in overall more healing dealt. It is
important to note that it does not decrease damage done when you have
Atonement on yourself. This talent also works great with the
Trinity PvP talent.

Trinity increases the duration of Atonement and the
healing transferred through Atonement. However, @Atonement
can now only affect up to 3 targets and can only be applied through
Power Word: Shield. This is by far one of the strongest PvP talents
you can have. This is an overall large increase to your damage, which results
in even more healing.

Purification gives Purify a maximum of 2 charges.
Against teams with crowd control like Polymorph or Fear,
this is crucial to be able to dispel your teammates. This will help your team
have as much uptime on an enemy as possible without being slowed by crowd
control.

Dark Archangel increases your damage, and the damage of all allies
with your Atonement for 8 seconds. This is a strong talent if your
team is relying on large bursts to kill a target. In this case, you should replace
Purification with this talent.

Premonition heals nearby targets and applies Atonement
to yourself. It also deals damage to yourself for each Atonement you
have active, and increases their duration by 5 seconds. This is a great talent
against teams with multiple crowd control abilities that will be used on you.
Use this ability at the end of the incoming crowd control to break it. In this
case, replace Purification with this talent.

Archangel refreshes the duration of your Atonement
on all allies when cast. It also increases your healing and absorption effects
for 15 seconds. This talent is on a Global Cooldown and it is difficult to find
a useful time to use it. If you are healing a team that will play defensively
and you want to keep them at high health, you can replace Purification
with this talent.

7. Racial Bonuses for Discipline Priests

Racial bonuses can provide interesting PvP benefits. Here are the best
races to choose for each faction.

7.1. Horde

The racial gained from being an Undead (Will of the Forsaken) is
really strong. This gives you an additional way to remove crowd control
abilities on you.

7.2. Alliance

8. Playstyle for Discipline Priests

The main role for a Discipline Priest is to use
both your healing and damaging spells to keep your team alive. The passive
ability, Atonement, allows you to directly heal from your damaging
spells.

8.1. Before Gates Open

Before the gates open you will want to coordinate your crowd control.
Discipline Priests have Psychic Scream, a great way to fear an
entire team. The only weakness about this ability is that you need to be in
melee range to use it. It is important for your teammates to try to stun the
enemy healer before using Psychic Scream so they cannot run away.
Make sure to use Power Word: Fortitude on your teammates. It can be
dispelled by abilities like Purge or Spellsteal, so
be prepared to apply it often

8.2. The Opener

The other team is going to try to force your trinket in the opener so they
have an advantage later in the game. As soon as the gates open you want to use
Power Word: Shield on your teammates to apply Atonement to
them. Then start using Purge the Wicked on enemies. This way, if you
are put into crowd control you will still be healing with Atonement.

8.3. Healing Techniques

8.3.1. Burst Healing

The great thing about Discipline Priests is that they have the multiple ways
to keep teammates alive and high on health.

The first method is best when the enemy team has strong single target
pressure:

You can use Rapture for either of these situations. It is ideal
to use it after you have been crowd controlled so you do not lose value while
it is active. While it is active, make sure to use and maintain
Power Word: Shield on all teammates. Use Penance to spread
Purge the Wicked.

8.3.2. Sustained Damage Healing

Use this to heal sustained damage throughout the match (damage done when
the other team does not have burst cooldowns available).

When there is not much damage happening use Smite when teammates
have Atonement.

8.4. Cooldowns/Defensives

Although Discipline Priests can heal with their damage, sometimes
this is not enough to keep teammates alive. Below are the cooldowns that
they have to deal with heavy damage.

Pain Suppression is a strong defensive with a long cooldown.
It will primarily be used while you are stunned, but should be used whenever
a teammate is taking strong single target damage.

Power Word: Barrier is also a strong defensive with a long cooldown.
It is best used when your teammates are stacked and taking strong spread
pressure. The bonus healing you gain when standing in it will help keep your
teammates alive.

Rapture is a powerful cooldown that should not be wasted. Use this
when your team is dangerously low and you need a way to recover. This can be
used when your team is taking single target or spread pressure.

Shadowfiend is best used when your teammates are starting to
take light spread pressure and have Atonement active.

Desperate Prayer increases your health by 25% for 10 seconds,
and instantly heals you for that amount. This is great for when you get
interrupted on Shadow Mend and need an instant heal.

9. Best Team Compositions for Discipline Priests

Now that you have the correct talents and understand your damage
rotation, it is time to step into the arena with your team. With spells
like Purge the Wicked, Penance and Psychic Scream,
Discipline Priests play with classes that are very aggressive.

9.1. 2v2 Arena

In 2v2 Arena, you want to deal as much damage as you can when your DPS
partner is using their burst rotation. Maintain Purge the Wicked on all
enemies, including pets. Use Penance as soon as it is off cooldown.
Use Dark Archangel when your partner is using their burst rotation for a
large amount of damage. Have your teammate stun or slow the enemy healer so you
can easily get a Psychic Scream on them. It is important to note that
Discipline Priests are the only healer with multiple casting schools. What this
means, is if you get interrupted while casting Shadow Mend, you can
still use Power Word: Radiance or Power Word: Shield.

Here is a list of the best team compositions for 2v2:

Discipline Priest + Assassination/Subtlety Rogue;

Discipline Priest + Arms Warrior;

Discipline Priest + Windwalker Monk;

Discipline Priest + Frost Mage.

9.2. 3v3 Arena

Your role in 3v3 is similar to 2v2 Arena. You want to always be damaging
to maintain pressure on the enemy team. Discipline Priests struggle when they
fall behind, so you always want to stay ahead. Maintain and refresh your
Purge the Wicked. Try to utilize Mind Control. If you are
interrupted while channeling it, you can still cast your Holy spells. Remember
to take advantage of having more than one casting school. There will be some
match ups where you cannot cross the map to use Psychic Scream on the
enemy healer. In those situations, use Psychic Scream on whichever DPS
your team is not targeting.

10. Useful Macros for Discipline Priests

Macros are crucial to be successful in PvP. They allow players to use
abilities on enemies without having to target them. This helps increase overall
damage/healing and general awareness in the arena. Here are a few macros that
all Discipline Priests can benefit from.

10.1. Purge the Wicked 123 Macro

#showtooltip Purge the Wicked

/cast [target=arena1] Purge the Wicked

Using this macro will use Purge the Wicked on arena enemy 1.
This makes it easier to damage an enemy while healing your team.
If you want macros for the second and third enemies, simply change the arena1
to arena2 or arena3.

10.2. Penance Target of Target Macro

10.3. Purify Party Macro

#showtooltip Purify

/cast [target=party1] Purify

Using this macro will cast Purify on party player 1.
This makes it easier to dispel a teammate while healing the rest of your team.
If you want a macro to dispel the second party member, change the party1 to
party2.

11. Changelog

28 Nov. 2018: Added Gear Guidelines section.

04 Oct. 2018: Removed Artifact traits and Relics section.

Added Stat priority and Azerite trait sections.

Added Talent Table.

02 Oct. 2018: Removed PvP Gear and War Mode sections.

27 Aug. 2018: Updated Air Drops section.

28 Jul. 2018: Updated Guide for Patch 8.0.1.

Updated introduction.

Updated tier 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 regular talents.

Added War Mode section.

Added PvP Talents section.

Added PvP Gear section.

Updated Racial Bonuses section.

Updated Burst Healing and Sustained Healing sections.

Updated Macros section.

Removed Gear section.

Updated Artifact Traits and Relics sections.

09 Jun. 2018: Added an Arena Compositions section.

12 Apr. 2018: Made several updates to the guide and its structure.

Added sections for Macros, Strengths, and Weaknesses.

Moved Gear, Artifact Traits, and Relics sections to the end, since they are not that important.

This guide has been written by Mysticall,
a seasoned PvP player who has repeatedly achieved Arena Master and 2500 rating.
You can watch his stream on Twitch, and you can
also check out his YouTube
channel.